Hi Gary,
Yes, I think the problem was that some/many labs paid lip service to Quality Control and did not run QC correctly. That is it seemed to me that they missed the whole point of QC being to identify processing trends heading towards Action Limits and then taking measures to stop the process before it became noticeable and going out of Control limits.
Instead what seemed to happen is they only looked properly when a system was out of control and obviously having a noticeable affect on image quality i.e. trying to bolt the stable door after the horse has bolted. The consequences of this type of reaction was at best to cost a lot of time trying to bring a system back into control at worst, financially at least, having to dump chemistry and start afresh.
Kodak had a good idea promoting Q labs however what they actually did was no different to what most pro labs were doing maintaining proper control of the various processes by a proper QC system in place and that system being used on a daily (several times) basis to identify system anomolies and to take corrective action before problems seen in the process run. Basically being proactive rather than reactive.
Never used Fujichrome back in the day it was always Ektachrome 5x4 usually but occassionally Full Plate or even 10"x8" - never 35mm. If memory serves Fuji did 'improve' the chromes by increasing D-Max in the Red and Green areas, thereby eliminating the poor response of earlier film?
As to fungus with Kodachrome I agree it does/did seem to be more of a problem than E6 processed film. Seems the little blighters find the gelatin in Kodachrome to be much more flavoursome than other brands - that of course is my highly scientific theory without any real evidence to corroborate
.
One last nagging issue with Kodachrome I've had concerning its early application in the '30's & '40's when the government sent out photographers to shoot rural and working class America now seen in large format Kodachromes on Shorpy is... who was meant to see and enjoy these images if it was so expensive and complicated to implement?
I mean if it weren't for the internet and Shorpy and Library Of Congress I would never have seen this high quality of Kodachromes outside the typical low quality family photos I've seen from amateurs and hobbyists.
I believe some of the images were meant to be seen by the public and sold for advertising etc. Ansel Adams for instance was commissioned for commercial assignments for the national parks and while he did extensive B&W work also often took pictures in colour. I understand (although never seen them - before my time!) that Standard Oil (Esso) purchased rights to some of them to promote driving in America.
Grand Central terminal featured some of his colour work in huge transparancies although I am not clear on the actual process I assume Kodachrome
https://www.npr.org/sections/pictureshow/2010/07/28/128831822/coloramaYes, fungus in the film is terrible. I think iSRD Dust & Scratch removal is useless there because it is not ON the film, but IN the film. Not only Kodachromes but Ektachromes too.
I am happy to learn why the slides are red. And learned so much more as well.
I have not found any film cleaner that works well or even at all. My Dad had a bottle of a Kodak product that got banned for toxicity. Maybe shelf life is way gone but all it would do is give me a headache. If there is food like stuff the cleaners just smear it around.
Yes, if the fungus has eaten its way into the film then there is little you can do to clean it off and any dirt and scratch removal will not really offer much help and in that case you will have to resort to Photoshop magic to obliterate the offending marks and replace with friendly pixels
Kodachrome film contains silver like conventional B&W film. Silver reflects infrared light therefore ICE, iSRD not suitable for dust and scratch removal.
Digital ICE Professional however is claimed to overcome the limitations of these two forms of dust and scratch removal. I believe Silverfast is able to handle dust and scratch removal with its own system
depending on the scanner being able to support the features.
If you have not already tried PEC solution and PEC 12 pads may help in cleaning.
See Gary you are not the only one that can get carried away